


Marvel One-Shots and Short Stories

by meredithmay



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Bucky Barnes Feels, Drabbles, F/M, Feels, Gen, Imagines, Iron-man, One-Shots, Other, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Short Stories, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-06 09:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19059637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meredithmay/pseuds/meredithmay
Summary: Just a few ideas for the MCU.





	1. Hereditary - Steve Rogers

*This is based off of a Tumblr post by Siffy. I don't know how to find the link, but if anyone can find her original post please comment and I will give full credit. 

Steven Grant Rogers has been traveling the world for the past two days, finding any HYDRA base he can, and saving the people inside it. Then destroying the base, until all that’s left of HYDRA is rubble. Steven has been working non-stop for the past forty-eight hours, alongside James Buchanan Barnes, or Bucky, as he likes to be called.  
Steve and Bucky get on the Quinjet, both exhausted after another bought of fighting. They found two abductees, which are in transport with them, along with some others. Steven sighed and opened his phone up, his wallpaper a picture of a little boy no older than seven. .He starts to text something, when his phone starts ringing, the photo of Bruce Banner's replacing the photo of the little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes.   
“Hey Steve, Timothy has pneumonia. He’s not doing too well, you may want to head back.” Steve runs his fingers through his hair and exhales.  
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Thanks, Bruce.” Steve hangs up the phone and tries to act like he isn’t worried. Steve’s knee jumping up and down and fingers twiddling easily give him away.   
Bucky pipes up, “Steve, if you need to head back to the Avengers facility, I’m alright. I’ll call in Sam. I mean, I don’t particularly like him but he’ll do.” Bucky’s tone is joking, but there’s a somber tone underneath the playful smirk. Steve looks at the map and thinks through his decision. He could continue to stay on the quinjet for the next hour and finish out the last base in this area before heading home, then head back with the people found in the bases- or he could just head home. Steve decides to finish the last HYDRA base in the area, then return those who were rescued. Timothy is probably sound asleep, and Steve wants to see this through.   
“I’ll stay for awhile longer, then the both of us can head back. I’ll process the abductees with Bruce and you and Sam can continue.” Steve runs his fingers through his hair again. He looks tired, he is tired. Life as a single dad, isn’t easy. Life as a single dad, and a superhero? Even harder. Bucky places a comforting hand on Steve's shoulder. “Hey, I know you’ve had it rough lately. I get it, who used to take care of you when you got sick?”   
Steve smiles a little at his best friend. “I don’t know. Who?”   
“Punk.”  
“Jerk.”  
Steve gives a little smile, then leans back in his chair. It’s a 30 minute flight to the next location, and all Steven can think of is Timothy, in bed sick. Steve zones out as they fly, trying not to feel guilty for leaving his son alone.  
Steve and Bucky sneak into the next base. Steve finding an entrance point while Bucky takes out the power source. Steve picks the lock on the door, and stays near to the walls as not to be seen. Bucky walks in behind him, guns held close in case they’re needed. Bucky and Steve are successfully walking out with the hostages, no fighting, no agents in view and Steve knows, this was too easy.   
Steve and Bucky fight against the 23 HYDRA agents in the building. Steve fights with great agility, like a dancer who knows the choreography. Easily disarming, or disabling his attackers. He tries not to kill, but instead to capture. Bucky fights with malice, with revenge on the mind. His movements are stiff, and calculated. A man hardened by time and torture.   
Steve loses focus, distracted by his thoughts. Will Timothy be okay when he gets there? Is he a bad dad for not coming home sooner?   
Before Steve can react, his knife is pulled from his holster and Steve’s knee is slashed from behind. He almost cries out, but instead channels the energy into attacking the man. He removes the knife from the man's grasp and knocks him out, ignoring the screaming pain in his left leg. He gets into the quinjet with adrenaline still keeping him from feeling too much pain, Bucky hasn’t even noticed yet. Steve is too worried about Timothy to really focus on anything else, which is why he forgot to make sure HYDRA agents couldn’t use his own weapons against him. Steve feels like an idiot.   
They return to the Avengers facility, and Steve escorts the now free victims of HYDRA to a rehabilitation center where they can start gaining back memories, and lead normal- or as normal as can be- lives.   
Bucky meets up with Sam and they get back on the quinjet, leaving Steve at the base. Steve walks into the facility, and up to his apartment. He walks into the big apartment, full of vintage and modern technology. It’s very plain, as it’s all Steven has really known. He could never afford much as a kid, or as an adult. Coming from an immigrant family, then going through the great depression, then WWII meant there wasn’t a time when he wasn’t poor- until now.   
Steve walks into a room of the apartment. The feeling of it immediately changes from a vintage and modern mix, to all modern. The room is painted a bright blue, and posters from Captain America's hay-day hang on the walls. There are Captain America action figures, and a desk chair made to look like the iconic Captain America shield. In the bed with American flag bed sheets, there lies Timothy Grant Rogers. Son of Steven Grant Rogers.   
Timothy is sleeping peacefully, and Steve gently sits beside him. Brushing his blonde bangs away from his eyes. His hair is slightly wet from sweat, and his forehead is burning up. Steve sighs and tucks Timothy in, waiting for Bruce to come update him on Timothy’s condition.   
As if reading Stevens thoughts, in walks Bruce. “Timothy has a fever of 103 degrees. I’ve given him medicine to help with that, and some medicine to help with the coughing as well. He should be okay, he just wanted his dad.” Steve nods and looks over at his little boy. Skin and bones, almost a carbon copy of Steve at that age. Thankfully though, there are now treatments and vaccines against what Steve used to have- but it’s still not easy and it’s still very hard for Timothy.   
“Thank you, Bruce. I don’t know what I’d do without you and the others here helping Timothy and I.”  
“No need to thank me, Steve. I enjoy helping Timothy out. By the way, you might need stitches on your leg. The cut looks pretty deep.”   
Steve shakes his head, now noticing a dull throbbing from his leg as the adrenaline wears off. “I’m alright, Bruce. Don’t worry about it.” Steve gives a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, the smile doesn’t look friendly or happy- it looks scared.   
Bruce leaves and Steve stays by Timothy for a bit, watching his uneven breaths. Holding his own breath whenever Timothy's little lungs don’t want to work anymore. As Steve watches, he wonders… why? Why did Timothy have to get his maladies? Why couldn’t Timothy be able to run, and play, and be a normal child? Timothy has always wanted to be just like his dad, to fight bad guys and care for people. To walk in Stevens footprints, but Timothy has the unfortunate immune system Steve once had. So Timothy can barely even leave the facility.   
Steve decides to take a shower while Timothy is still sleeping. Anything Steve could do to help would wake him up, and Timothy definitely needs rest right now. Steve steps into the shower and starts shampooing his hair, barely awake as he lathers the soap into his scalp.   
Steve never understood his ailments from his mother's point of view, usually Steve was too tired to even understand what was going on with him. But now, he understands and he wishes he didn’t have to. He wants Timothy to be ok, he wants his son to have a childhood like Steven never could. Steve wants to give Timothy the world, but he can’t.   
Steve cleans out the gash and wraps gauze around the leg wound, then dresses in sweatpants and a tee shirt Timothy got him last year for Fathers Day that reads ‘My dad is a superhero’. Since Timothy is still snoring away, Steve starts making soup and grabs a cold towel for Timothy’s forehead. He could’ve done that earlier but he was too tired and forgot. Steve gently sits the rag on Timothy’s forehead then finishes some chicken noodle soup in the kitchen.   
Timothy rustles a bit and Steve, now finished with the soup, sits beside him. He gently helps Timothy sit up, propping pillows behind him. “Hey, Captain Timothy. How were you for your aunts and uncles while I was away?” Steve asks, acting comical but feeling like anything he does for Timothy isn’t good enough. It’s Steves fault Timothy is always sick, it’s his fault Timothy’s mother left…   
“I was good…. I think.” Steve gives a warm, fatherly smile and tucks the covers back around Timothy. “Well, that’s good. I’m going to get your soup, ok? I’ll be right back.”  
Steve gets up from the very patriotic bedding and heads to the kitchen. He thinks as he walks, so exhausted his mind won’t stop racing. The super-soldier healing has done a lot of things. Made him taller, stronger, faster, it’s improved a lot. But what it can’t improve is Steve’s mental state.  
Soon after Civil War, Steve married Caroline Diane Ekman. They had been dating secretly for a little over a year, and finally decided to tie the knot. Caroline was perfect, Steve thought. Gorgeous, loving, understanding. Everything Steve wanted in a wife. For once in his life, Steve though he could have what he always wanted. A family. A year after they were married, they had Timothy. When Caroline saw all of Timothy’s ailments, she left Steve and Timothy. Steve blames himself for Caroline leaving. Maybe if he had been a better husband, or maybe if he had never had these ailments as a child. A week after leaving, Caroline sent divorce papers and handed over all rights of parenthood. Steve signed both, after trying to resolve things.   
For the next year, Steve stayed home with Timothy. He didn’t trust anyone else around his tiny, frail little boy of whom he loved dearly. After that year, he was needed. So he started trusting the team to take care of him, but not often. Now, the team is known by Timothy as ‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’. It’s given Timothy an odd family dynamic, but one that’s helped Timothy and Steve out a lot.   
Steven wouldn’t take back any of what happened, though. Even with the heartbreak and everything else, he loves Timothy. Sick, or not.   
Steve walks back into Timothy’s room, setting the cup of soup down gently in front of the frail little boy. Timothy starts coughing and it sounds horrible. Steve just wants to take it all away. If there was a way to make Timothy well, but Steve would forever have his old body, Steve would make it happen in a heartbeat.   
But there isn’t. So this is the best Steve can do for now.   
“Dad, I want to go outside and play.” Timothy whines a little. Steve gives a little sigh, wishing Timothy could go outside.   
“Not today, Tim. Ok? It’s really cold outside and you’re sick. But another day, I promise.” Steve sits next to Timothy once again and wraps a gentle arm around his son.   
“But dad, I’m always sick.” Timothy sighs and drops his shoulders. “But I get it. Can you tell me a story, Dad?”   
Steve, being the dad he is, is always up for telling a story. “I’d love to. It was” He looks up at the ceiling, struggling to discern the year that it was, “1939 I think. Your uncle Bucky and I went to Coney Island. There was this huge roller coaster.” Timothy pushes his soup to the side, not feeling well enough to finish it. Steve gets under the covers and Timothy cuddles his dad, closing his eyes as Steve tucks blankets around the both of them. Steve gently presses the cold rag back to Timothy’s forehead as he adjusts himself and Steve rubs Timothy’s back as he coughs.   
“Now I hated roller coasters. But you know your uncle Bucky. He wanted the both of us to ride it. I said, no. Bucky, well he said go,” Steve stops his story when he hears snoring. Steve smiles a little, glad Timothy is resting. Then Steve falls asleep too, a protective embrace held over Timothy. Steve’s even breathing in contrast with Timothy’s ragged, uneven breathing. But it’s ok, they’re both peaceful. They’re both together, and that’s what matters.


	2. End of the Line - Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: major character death

It was like a chain of horrific events. An event that no one could foreshadow. As Steve threw the shield, there was a blast. Not just any blast, an earth shaking explosion.   
The force of the bomb threw Steven to the ground, and his stance once full of power and might was now lying on the battle-torn ground. A ringing filled his ears, and the shield that he sent soaring through the air only a few seconds earlier missed it’s target. Steve’s shield was too far away for him to grab it, and as he heard a gunshot ring out from the direction his shield was supposed to go in, there was no time to react. He was far too dizzy, and the high pitched sound in his ears only made the disorientation worse. Steve was hit.   
With the adrenaline coursing through him, he stood up. He made a grunt as he stumbled toward his vibranium shield, and with the last of his super strength, he fought the battle with valiance, only getting paler as the battle went on. He didn’t notice the pain, nor the blood rushing from the gap in his stomach. He was focused on keeping others safe, and that was all.   
The battle against the neverending foe, Hydra, was won quickly and as Bucky rushed over to pat his best friend on the back for a job well done, the mighty Avenger fell to his knees. His arm was pressed to a wound to his abdomen. His red, white, and blue outfit was now mostly red. Not a bright, patriotic red, but a horrific shade of blood red. A burgundy color almost, that seemed to make him look even paler.   
Bucky ran over, helping his friend to lie on his back. He yelled to Stark, concern thick in his voice. “We need some medics over here!” Bucky took off his over shirt and was about to press it to the wound when he felt Steve grab his forearm.   
“Bucky, don’t.” He coughed a little, holding back the blood he could feel inching its way up his throat. The feeling made him all the more certain, that this was it. “I think this is it, Buck. It’s the end of the line.”  
Bucky shook his head, there were tears threatening to spill from the corners of his eyes. The man of stone, a man who had been hardened by time. The Winter Soldier, was on the brink of tears “Don’t say that. It’s not. We’re going to get that med cart over here, we’re going to get you patched up, and you’ll go back to your stupid ways as early as tomorrow.” He proceeded to try and soak up the blood coming from the abdominal wound with his gray spandex overshirt, but there was too much. The shirt was soaked through the moment Bucky pressed it to Steve’s gaping wound. Bucky’s eyes widened in panic, and he couldn’t stop his right hand from shaking in fear. He clenched his fists tightly, trying to hide how upset he was. Even 50 years of being brainwashed by Hydra didn’t stand a chance against the fear sitting in his chest.   
“I want you,” Steven heaved a little, he struggled to get the words from his throat to his mouth. He struggled to think of the words to say, much less go through the act of saying them. “I need you to take the shield. I want you to take on the name Captain America. People need hope, Buck. People need Captain America. Even if it’s not me behind the shield.” Steven grabbed the battle-torn shield and handed it to his best friend, unable to hide his wince as he picked it up.   
Bucky looked at it, his forehead creasing. “I-I can’t Steve. It’s,” He paused, thinking, “it’s a sign of courage. Of goodness, of optimism. I’ve killed so many. I’ve hurt so many. I’m not an emblem of hope or good, just of a, an assassin.”  
“You’re past all of that Buck. You’ve gone through all of that, and still come out as a,” Steve heaved a little, coughing once again. He felt as though an elephant was seated on his lungs. He felt something escape this his mouth this time. It was thick and metallic. It sat on his lips as a dim red reminder that he didn’t have that much time left. “A good man, that’s why you should carry on my legacy. Captain America is a sign of second chances, it’s who I am, Buck. I never had a family, never had anyone else. You’re like my brother, Bucky. I want you to carry my legacy. I want you to be the one to give people hope.”  
Bucky gave a shuddering sigh, one that was full of anxiety. “I’ll do it.” Bucky grabbed the lightweight shield with a heavy burden sitting on his shoulders, and although Bucky’s shoulders felt as though there was an underbearable load, Steve’s shoulders dropped, and his face softened a little. He seemed relieved to know that something of his would carry on.   
Steve thought for a second, and slowly took his left hand to his tactile belt. He pulled out a compass and opened it to see a worn picture, yellowed from age and wrinkled from water damage. He thought for a second, before asking Bucky, “Think she’ll be happy to see me, Buck?”   
Bucky, face wavering took his best friends hand as a source of comfort for the both of them. “Yeah, Steve. She will. I know she will. The two of you were made for each other.”  
For the next few minutes, they sat in silence. The woods around them were battered and torched from the fight, Hydra agents they had injured during battle lay around them. It was silent, except for a cough or wheeze from the captain laid out on the scorched ground.  
Steve mustered up enough energy to tell all of the Avengers goodbye, the compass with Peggy in it still sitting in his left hand as he gave a final word to each of them.  
With Tony, it was a final word of forgiveness. For Natasha, Wanda, and Peter, he gave words of strength. Clint, Vision, and Bruce were given words of encouragement. Each word took a little bit more out of him, but he was determined to tell each of his friends goodbye. In his final moments, Steve turned to Bucky, a resigned smile on his face. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”  
Bucky showed a hint of a grin, the weight of the thought of losing his best friend sitting behind it. “How can I?” He swallowed back tears as he tried not to let his voice crack, “You’re taking all the stupid with you.”  
And that was when the last breath of Steven Grant Rogers escaped his mouth. It was a peaceful ‘sigh,’ and as he gave up the ghost, and for a moment, it was as though the world stilled.   
For Bucky, the world shattered. Steven was all Bucky really had left. He was the only person who never gave up on him, he was his best friend.   
As Tony pulled Bucky away from Steve’s side, Bucky is scarily calm. His broad shoulders were shrugged forward. The shield given to him in Steven’s final moments is held tightly to him. As they fly back to the Avengers compound, Bucky is eerily silent once more. The weight of what just happened fills the entire quinjet. It seemed as if everyone in that plane was a statue. No one dared to speak a word. Unbeknownst to Bucky, all of the Avengers were silently watching him to see just how he would react. They wondered if they should run away from the man, or run to him to comfort him. For now, they were just frozen in place.   
Even without the element of death, Bucky was a sight to see with the shield in front of him and the blood encrusting his suit. The compass that Steve held is in his tactile belt. His face was stiff, and forehead was creased. He was a stone. Until he looked at the spot where Steve should be. As he stared at the empty driver's seat, now taken by an AI, Bucky breaks. Tears fall down his face, silent tears. Somber tears. The cry of a broken man. All of the other Avengers came to comfort Bucky, even Tony, but it wasn’t enough. Because Steve wasn’t there, and he never would be again.  
The next battle, Bucky walks out dressed as Captain America. The same shield that Steve had carried is held in front of him. His face is one of steel. He holds himself up with honor, but yet with a heavy burden. To carry on the legacy of his best friend.


	3. It's Been a Long, Long Time-Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little fluffy scene.   
> I don't think I need to warn any longer, but Endgame spoilers ahead.   
> Also, I don't know if Peggy was a spy in WWII, but after seeing her tech in Agent Carter.. come on she had to be. So there's probably quite a bit of canon divergence.

Peggy sits at the desk in front of the window, working on files and pushing a loose curl behind her ear. She sighs and sets her forehead on her hand.   
It was a long day, she had to sort through the super soldier files, specifically the files of Steven Grant Rogers. As she looked at the files all she could think of were the memories they had and the dance they were never able to share.   
Peggy stares at the picture of him setting on her desk. She picks up the photo of that scrawny kid from Brooklyn that she fell in love with. She traces it for a moment, as if she could reach through the paper and touch his face.   
With a resigned sigh, she pushes back that annoying curl that keeps falling in her face and sets the photo back down, going back to organizing a file on the tesseract. It's a year and a half since the war was won. She's been working for a secret agency, the SSR for a year now. She should be more than a glorified secretary. She was in the war for goodness sake, she was a spy. She worked where no woman had gone before, but she comes home and she's treated as if all she did was drool over the men in their fatigues. Peggy isn't one to feel inferior, but she just doesn't feel as if she belongs.  
She finishes going over the file and decides to take a peek outside. Peggy rests her head on her fist and looks out the bay window. That's when she sees him. His clothes look unfamiliar. They don’t look like your average slacks from 1946, nor does his shirt. Peggy notices this, she’s been trained to notice these details, but that’s not what’s important to Agent Carter.   
“It can’t be…” she whispers under her breath, thinking her tired mind is only playing a cruel trick. But as she looks at the man in front of her, his blonde hair and crooked grin, she knows. It’s Steve.   
Peggy runs to the door. She throws it open and looks at the tall man in front of her, an unsure smile on her face as she silently wonders if her mind is still playing a trick on her.  
“I think I’m a little late for that dance.” He muses as he sets his bags down on the front porch, a crooked grin on his face.   
“No,” her face lights up as she sees that it’s really, truly him, “You’re right on time.”   
Peggy walks to the record player and searches for the perfect record, biting her lip to keep from smiling too wide. She searches all of her records and finally finds one that fits. One that can be just for them.   
The smooth sound of Harry James starts playing. Steve saunters over and Peggy wraps her arms around his torso as his fall at her waist. Her head rests on his chest and his head is set on top of hers. They close their eyes, swaying as the sun starts to go down. 

"Never thought that you would be  
standing here so close to me  
there’s so much I feel that I should say  
but words can wait until some other day"

“You have no idea how long it’s been, Peg.” He whispers into her pinned hair, a tight grip around her waist to keep her close to him. He’s holding so tight it feels as if he’s afraid she’ll let go.   
“We can talk about that later.”   
They look up at each other, and as their eyes meet the most contented smile crosses their face. His lips press against her and all of her worries disappear. All that matters is that he’s there. 

"Kiss me once, then kiss me twice  
Then kiss me once again  
It’s been a long, long time."


End file.
